La Russa Won’t Return as Cardinals Manager

La Russa, a three-time World Series champion who won his
second with the Cardinals on Oct. 28 when the team beat the
Texas Rangers in the decisive seventh game, made the
announcement today at a news conference in St. Louis.

“It’s just time for something else, and I know it,” La
Russa said in the announcement that was streamed on the team’s
website. “You’ve got to look in the mirror. If I came back I’d
come back for the wrong reasons, and I couldn’t do that.”

Following Terry Francona’s departure from the Boston Red
Sox on Sept. 30, La Russa’s retirement leaves managerial
openings at two of baseball’s marquee franchises. The Red Sox
have won championships twice in the last decade and the
Cardinals’ title was their 11th in team history.

The 67-year-old La Russa, who’s managed St. Louis for 16
seasons and won a World Series with the Oakland Athletics in
1989, stepped down while 35 wins away from tying John McGraw for
second place in all-time victories. Connie Mack is the record
holder with 3,731, while La Russa has a 2,728-2,365 record in 33
years with the Cardinals, Athletics and Chicago White Sox.

“I’m aware of the history of the game but I would not be
happy with myself if the reason I came back was just to move up
one spot,” La Russa said. “It’s not something that motivates
me. Wherever you finish, you finish. The fact that John McGraw
is a legendary figure, I kind of like it that he’s second.”

Player, Manager

An infielder who played six major-league seasons from 1963
to 1973, La Russa won three Manager of the Year awards in the
American League (1983, 1988, 1992) and one in the National
League (2002).

The Cardinals were down to their last strike in Game 6
against the Rangers last week in both the ninth and 10th
innings. They tied the game each time and the won it in the 11th
to extend the series to a seventh game, where they won 6-2.

La Russa first disclosed his plan to step down to
Cardinals’ management in August. He said his thinking never
changed when it looked like the team wouldn’t make the playoffs
and then when the club continued to advance to another World
Series title.

St. Louis, which trailed the Atlanta Braves by 10 1/2 games
on Aug. 25, won 23 of its last 32 to qualify for the playoffs on
the final day of the regular season.

“You proceed to go to popping the champagne four times and
it never feels any different,” he said of his thinking. “So
it’s just time.”

Parade Aftermath

The Cardinals put together a search committee to find La
Russa’s replacement, said John Mozeliak, the team’s general
manager, adding that La Russa’s retirement was in his thoughts
yesterday during the team’s championship parade.

“It was sort of hard for me to swallow but at the same
token, I have to admire that he never wavered,” Mozeliak said.
“Today is about Tony. Tomorrow is going to be about the next
chapter for the St. Louis Cardinals.”

It’s a chapter that will be tough to duplicate for a
franchise that has the most world championships in National
League history. Only the Yankees, with 27 World Series titles,
have more.

“Tony leaves behind a legacy of success that will always
be remembered as one of the most successful eras in Cardinals
history,” said team Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. “I knew this day
would come. I just hoped that it wouldn’t.”